Polio vaccines and the
origin of AIDS: some key writings

Overview of the
theory

One theory of the origin of AIDS
is that it developed from contaminated vaccines used in the world's
first mass immunisation for polio. There are a number of reasons why
this theory is plausible enough to be worthy of further
investigation.

The location coincides
dramatically. The earliest known cases of AIDS occurred in central
Africa, in the same regions where Koprowski's polio vaccine was
given to over a million people in 1957-1960.

The timing coincides. There is
no documented case of HIV infection or AIDS before 1959. Centuries
of the slave trade and European exploitation of Africa exposed
Africans and others to all other diseases then known; it is
implausible that HIV could have been present and spreading in
Africa without being recognised.

Polio vaccines are grown
(cultured) on monkey kidneys which could have been contaminated by
SIVs. Polio vaccines could not be screened for SIV contamination
before 1985.

Another monkey virus, SV-40,
is known to have been passed to humans through polio vaccines. A
specific pool of Koprowski's vaccine was later shown to have been
contaminated by an unknown virus.

In order for a virus to infect
a different species, it is helpful to reduce the resistance of the
new host's immune system. Koprowski's polio vaccine was given to
many children less than one month old, before their immune systems
were fully developed. Indeed, in one trial, infants were given 15
times the standard dose in order to ensure effective
immunisation.

If this theory is correct, it has
serious ethical, health and policy implications. In particular, it
points to the danger of interspecies transfer of material through
vaccinations, organ transplants, etc., which could lead to new
variants of AIDS as well as other new diseases. As well, studying the
theory may lead to insights about responding to AIDS and preventing
new diseases.

On several occasions, critics have claimed that the theory has been refuted. The Wistar Committee in 1992 said the death of a British sailor in 1959, whose tissues later tested positive for HIV, made the theory implausible. However, several years later, more sensitive tests showed no HIV in the tissues.

In 2001, reports were published that polio vaccine samples held in Philadelphia from the 1950s showed no immunodeficiency viruses. This was trumpeted as a refutation of the theory. Edward Hooper later produced evidence that US-produced vaccines had been amplified in Africa using chimpanzees as a substrate, thus showing the theory could be correct.

Scientists have spent a lot of effort trying to refute the polio-vaccine theory of the origin of AIDS, but very little trying to refute the conventional view, that blood from an SIV-infected chimpanzee got into humans via hunting or eating. There is very little direct evidence to support the conventional view, which explains neither the timing nor the location of the origin.

Scientific journals have been reluctant to publish articles about the polio-vaccine theory. For example, Nature has received substantial submissions about
the theory from at least six scholars but has not published any of
them. Opponents of the theory have used defamation threats and legal actions to discourage publication. The result is that editorial prerogative and legal action
have given the false impression that critics of the theory have been
unanswered.

To help rectify this situation,
key documents presenting the theory and
commenting on it are provided here. Also given is a list of publications about the
theory. This material is provided by Brian
Martin who as a social
scientist has been following the origins debate since 1991. It is part of a
page on suppression
of dissent. Comments and
additional contributions are welcome.

Some key
publications about the theory
(in reverse chronological order)

BOOKS

Edward
Hooper,The River: A Journey Back to the Source of HIV and
AIDS (Harmondsworth: Penguin; Boston: Little, Brown, 1999;
revised edition, Penguin, 2000). This is an enormous but highly
readable scientific blockbuster, providing the most detailed
examination of the polio vaccine theory yet available, including many
new findings. It has generated widespread discussion and debate and
has established the polio-vaccine theory of the origin of AIDS as by
far the strongest contender to the cut-hunter orthodoxy.

Omar
Bagasra, HIV and Molecular Immunity: Prospects for the AIDS
Vaccine (Natick, MA: Biotechniques Books, 1999). This technical
scientific book presents a new theory of molecular immunity for the
origin and history of HIV-1, which, it is argued, most likely derived
from polio vaccinations in Africa.
Kiley R. Prilliman reviews
the book in the
prestigious journal Cell. Julian Cribb has provided
insightful
comments on the book for
nonspecialists. The author, Omar Bagasra, can be contacted at
omarb@sc.rr.com.
The book is available from Eaton
Publishing, 154 East
Central Street, Natick MA 01760, USA, phone 508-653 6272, fax 508-653
2706.

Julian Cribb,The
White Death (Sydney:
Angus & Robertson, 1996). An engaging book focussing on both the
polio-vaccine-AIDS theory and its reception by the scientific
community. Full text available.

New material about the origin of AIDSpublished in November 2005 in Narrow Roads of Gene Land: The Collected Papers of W. D. Hamilton, Volume 3: Last Words, edited by Mark Ridley, Oxford University Press.

2. The
Marx/Drucker theory of
iatrogenic spread through unsterile needles, and the recent
intervention by Professor David Gisselquist, who claims that most
HIV infections in Africa are caused through this same
route

Blaine F. Elswood and Raphael
B. Stricker,"Polio
vaccines and the origins of AIDS",
Medical Hypotheses, vol. 42, 1994, pp. 347-354 and
Correspondence, vol. 44, 1995, p. 226. This is the first major paper
in the scientific literature presenting the theory. Blaine Elswood
can be contacted at Blaine.Elswood@snow.edu.

W. D. Hamilton,unpublished
letter to Science,
27 January 1994. Hamilton attempted to publish a letter in
Science responding to Koprowski's 1992 letter. Included here
is both the letter itself and Hamilton's correspondence with
Science.

Tom Curtis,
unpublished
letter to Science,
30 September 1992. This letter rejected by Science was a
response to Koprowski's letter in Science attacking the
polio-vaccine theory.

Claudio Basilico et al.,Report
from the AIDS/Poliovirus Advisory Committee,
18 September 1992. Stimulated by Curtis's article in Rolling
Stone, the Wistar Institute set up an independent committee to
examine the theory. This is its report, which was never formally
published.

Hilary Koprowski,"AIDS
and the polio vaccine"
(letter), Science, vol. 257, 21 August 1992, pp. 1024,
1026-1027; correction, 11 September 1992, p. 1463. This is a reply to
Tom Curtis's article in Rolling Stone and is one of the few
published critiques of the theory.

Tom Curtis,"The
origin of AIDS",
Rolling Stone, Issue 626, 19 March 1992, pp. 54-59, 61, 106,
108. This article gave the theory its first wide visibility. Based on
a version of the theory developed independently by Blaine Elswood, it
was investigated and reported on by Tom Curtis. Tom Curtis can be
contacted at tcurtis@utmb.edu.

Louis Pascal,"What
happens when science goes bad",
Science and Technology Analysis Working Paper #9, University of
Wollongong, December 1991. This was the first major published account
of the theory. Hard copies are available free from Brian Martin,
bmartin@uow.edu.au,
on request. Please include your postal address.